Some of the Target coupons (there’s usually one in their weekly ad) say “any NEW or transferred prescription”. I love our Target pharmacist and wouldn’t switch – even for $25. But I can still use these Target coupons for any new prescriptions. (ie – when my child gets an ear infection that won’t go away and we end up trying several different meds, such has been the case over the past few weeks.)

I’ve been playing the prescription moving game and I just recently transferred to Walgreen’s because they sent me a $25 check to use there with a new or transferred prescription. I love how I can transfer back and forth to keep getting free money! Can’t wait to see another one for Kroger!

None of my CVS’s take competitor coupons. :-( But Kroger and Publix will accept these RA coupons without a problem.

Stephanie

I use these coupons too, but as a student pharmacist, I’ll have to get on my soapbox too. If you are on multiple prescriptions, you should get them in one place, as Jenny said. If not, then when you transfer, make sure to tell your pharmacist all of the medications that you take. Then, they can enter them into your profile and do a drug interaction check. The computer automatically does this each time a Rx is filled, but if the computer does not know what you are taking because you get the other scripts filled somewhere else, a drug interaction may not be caught.

Katie

As a student pharmacist I will have to agree with what Stephanie said. Also, Stephanie where are you in school at?

Stephanie

Katie, I am a 4th year student at the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy. And you?

Jill

Since you should have all of your prescriptions at one place can you get a gift card for each prescription you transfer and simply transfer them all?

Stephanie

Jill, You will have to see the companies policy on how many coupons you are allowed to use in a certain time period. My local Rite Aid only allows 2 coupons in a 6 month period.

I didn’t see your post before I posted. I’m at the South Carolina College of Pharmacy. There are so many downsides to these coupons, but with the economy like it is, I don’t blame people for wanting free gift cards.

Laura K

Thanks Stephanie for the elaboration. I wondered if that was what Jenny was talking about.

jane

Target will not print as it is not there on it’s website
I have tried several times

As a pharmacy student, I agree that if you have multiple prescriptions it is better to have them all at one place. This helps the pharmacist see if there are any drug interactions that may occur based on all the meds you are on. However, in this day and age money is tight. I can say that I have transferred my meds to other pharmacies to get the gift cards, however, I do not take anything on a daily basis.

Just a note: If it is a controlled substance that you are going to transfer, it can only be transferred ONE time for the life of the prescription (It’s the law in SC). Y’all may already know this, but we have patients want to transfer their meds all the time and some do not know that. I just wanted to warn you so that you do not transfer it somewhere that you will hate having to go back to to get the refills filled.

One other thing before you start transferring. Some places do not allow you to get a $25 gift card if your prescription only costs $4. Typically they will only give you a gift card for the amount that you pay for the prescription plus the amount that the insurance is reimbursing them for. I worked at K-mart and I know for a fact that this is their rules.

Last thing, you are not allowed to use the coupons on any prescription that is being payed through the government, whether that be Tricare or Medicaid. This is the case in at least SC.

There are a lot of fine print rules so just ask before you transfer and find out after the fact.

laura

As a pharmacist tech- I really dislike the coupon game of moving rx from one store to another. I have one lady who has transfer her rx’s so many time she doesn’t remember where she got it last. Also I have seen where a customer has a new rx for a stronger med but had us transfer the old rx that she could not use. I believe in bargins but is our health and safety really worth all that?

I totally agree with you Laura. I dislike them too, although I am guilty for using a few of them at times. Not only is it risky health wise, it’s also a pain at times. It seems like it doubles the time that it would take to fill a regular prescription. I’ll stop there with the complainging.

KMart also has one out for a $10 gift card with a new or transferred RX that expires 1/31/10. I used mine last night. I guess that was the silver lining to my being sick.

K.

I got $25.00 gift card last Sunday at CVS and $10.00 at Publix by filling in prescription there for the first time. I got offer for CVS gift card on the bottom of my receipt, as for Publix- I asked and they gave me $10.00 gift card. :o)

pharmd

I’m a pharmacist, and I need to put my $0.02 in on this one, too. I do not participate in the “prescription moving game,” but I completely understand why others would do it. That being said, I have several concerns with frequently transferring prescriptions. 1) Every time you transfer a prescription, you introduce another opportunity for error. In general, most of the pharmacists I have worked with are very detail-oriented, but we’re all human, and communication can certainly break down over the telephone when transferring a script. And when the pharmacy workload increases due to coupons that are available, this just compounds the problem. 2) As the pharmacy students and Jenny all mentioned, the pharmacist cannot check for all drug interactions if he or she doesn’t know everything you’re taking. It’s safer to have all scripts filled at the same pharmacy. 3) Transferring prescriptions ties up a lot of the pharmacist’s time. Only pharmacists and students can call to transfer scripts, and that’s time that they could be using to check other prescriptions or counsel other patients. So if you’re going to transfer scripts, it would definitely be best to call the pharmacy (or request the transfer online) at least 24 hours before you intend to pick it up. And let your pharmacy know that you won’t be in until the next day so they can assist other patients with more urgent needs. Okay, I’ll get off my soap box now. :)

Pharm Tech

On my little soapbox: As a Lead Pharmacy Technician, Pharmacy and filling prescriptions is NOT a game. Transferring your prescriptions around leaves room for error. I completely agree that if you have multiple Rx's you should keep them at one pharmacy for multiple reasons, the biggest reason being you want your phamacy staff to be aware of drug interactions. We are dealing with hundreds, and many times thousands of prescriptions a week and calling another pharmacy, for which you just dropped off an Rx 2 hours ago to have them take the time to place on 'hold', just so we would take our time, to call them and transfer it so you'll get the gift card…..ugh! Pharmacists don't go to school to play games for corporations and customer gift cards. Unfortunately this is what it has resulted to. Would you play around with your Dr.'s staff in order to get money? The idea of the gift card is to essentially take away the competitions business, and keep them. Not a game. Yes, I'm totally aware you have this option to do this, so why not? Afterall it is free money. But please look past that and realize that it is YOUR medication, and we are dealing with many many more issues beyond your gift card transfer. Thank you :) I'm off my soapbox….

Sherry

Pharm Tech…..I understand your points. It is not a game to me. I haven't always done this, but my insurance Dr co-pays have increased every year for the past 3 or 4 years. Even having insurance it is still expensive to go to the Dr. Some of my monthly Rx's are expensive too. I do this out of necessity….NOT as a game. My husband is in a Pain Management Program and it requires that all RX's are to be purchased at the same store (the same street address store). I abide by that and I feel that it is important to do so. I really think that if too many people played it as a game it would not prove to be profitable to the store to offer these coupons for GC's and it would be dropped. Therefore I don't think people keep up the game unless it's necessary for them to do so.

Mich

Transferring our medications in the interest of gift cards is tempting as the Rite Aid GC's would cover a month of my son's newest prescription, which is hitting our budget hard. However, I am likely not going to do it because I agree that I don't want to interfere with what has always been smooth and accurate transactions for us at Walgreen's. Regardless, I would think as a pharmacist, the concerns you have should be raised with the company that employs you. I would feel devalued in my position if I felt like the company was not looking out for me as the well-studied, educated pharmacist that I am, and putting their priority in reeling the customers in with enticing gift cards. I would hate to have my job interrupted for what, in the big scheme of my position, would seem so petty.

Kristen

CVS has told me they can’t accept the printable coupons for gift cards because they are not region specific. They also won’t accept it when we go to refill our prescription. And before you go fussing at me I’m refilling insulin.
So FYI people. If you know of any CVS in Columbia, SC that will accept these when you REFILL a RX please let me know!
If not, I will continue to bounce it around.

Snellmom

I have used the coupons at Kroger & Publix. Walgreens will not take the competitors, but I’ll get a check for $25 about once a quarter in the mail to transfer.

Yes, I do play the transfer game, and I don’t feel bad about it at all. BUT, I have switched it up to only do it with the more expensive meds. I used to be very anal about having them all at one location. But then my husband switched jobs and we got new insurance. I could only get some filled through the mail order and then everything else through a local pharmacy. So, what was the point of having everything at one spot when the insurance company made it difficult? I inform the pharmacists & docs of any and every med (including OTC) I am taking. I know I’m not the only one who experiences this!

The best bet I have found is that many of the drug companies offer coupons for their medicines. You can google the name of the med and find a coupon for a lot. OR just ask your doctor. My doctor gave me a coupon good for my cholesterol med that will only cost me $5 per refill for an entire year. This is a $100+ med. My daughter’s main asthma/allergy med ends up costing me only $2-$3 after coupon from the manufacturer. I print it off everytime and take it in.

There was an interesting article in the AJC last week regarding the cost of your medications. The price of a medicine has a wide variation among the major stores- grocery stores, drug stores, and warehouse clubs. Call around and find out how much the drug costs. Even if you do not have a membership to a warehouse club, federal law permits you to have your prescriptions filled there- no membership required. A lot of people don’t know that.

OK, I’m off my soapbox. Do your research. You are your own best advocate!

Snellmom – thanks so much for you valuable information. I am definately going to check out the manufacturer coupons for my drugs. I live in Covington! Are you in Snellville?

Snellmom

Yes, I am!

Mel

I have all my rx at CVS. I take in a Rite Aid coupon for each new rx and they honor it even though it says “tranferred rx” on the coupon. They want to keep you as a customer so I stay. I don’t transfer from here to there. I get a $25 gc and they get all the refills if any.

I completely understand the safety issue and agree that you should notify your pharmacist of any other medication you are currently taking when you transfer a prescription – I always do. That being said, I an offended by all of the criticism by pharmacy staff on this thread. I am a 26 year old student. I am on $300+ worth of prescriptions a month. The only insurance that I can afford has a prescription limit that maxes out after approximately 6 months every year. If I want to buy food (using coupons), pay for school, and fill all of my prescriptions, I MUST find coupons and deals and transfer prescriptions every month. If you feel inconvenienced by your company’s policies, take your issues up with corporate. Don’t take your frustration with your job out on customers who take advantage of those policies.

Autumn

I transferred my prescription from CVS to Rite Aid b/c CVS had pretty poor service. Anyway, I already had so many thoughts on what I wanted to spend my $25 gift card on for transferring over. Well I found out (b/c I didn't read through the coupon) that you can't recieve the gift card if it you have military insurance!! I was so bummed out. Just thought I'd let all of you out there that are military not to expect the gift card…

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Hi, I'm Jenny!

I'm a stay at home mom of five girls. I started couponing with a lot of skepticism but was quickly saving our family over $400 a month! Now my goal is to make couponing easy and fun for everyone to save at least 50% off their household needs every week.
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